Sweet Poison
by xentrya
Summary: What happened if Gabrielle were fighting for her life and a very desperate Xena would ask for a certain War God's help? Add an extremly vindicative Athena into the mix and...there you have it...


**Sweet poison **

**(Xentrya) **

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Xena: Warrior Princess. They belong to Studio USA and Renaissance Pictures. No profit has been made from this story, damn!**  
Rated: T**

"Ares…..if I die….." Gabrielle's faint whisper broke the heavy silence of the great Olympian Hall, and the mere pronunciation of the words made her chest burn harder than the consuming flames of Tartarus, a new wave of needling pain crushing her lungs like a boulder.

"Oh, I'm not that lucky blondie, trust me…I could bet my godhood that you'll magically get to stick around for at least another half a century to rattle my cage…." the War God replied unabashedly, his voice cutting and apparently aloof, but the agonizing bard knew better. He did care. She could see it in his eyes. There was striking fear and desperation gradually growing on their cloudy surface with each passing minute, and the overall pose of a worried to death God that was about to loose a friend could be easily read in the hastiness of his gestures.

As much as he was doing his best to avoid letting her sense the chocking panic gripping his heart, she could almost hear the echoes of his deeply troubled mind, ranting to find a way to save her…

"Ares…hear me out, ok? I don't have much time and we both know it…" she genuinely struggled to utter while delicately covering his hand with hers, an almost imploring expression seizing her parchment white face.

And though she had definitely expected for yet another pigheaded protest to follow, Ares usually being the hard to deal with type when it came to defending his point of view

even when there was nothing more to defend and things were thoroughly obvious to everybody, it never came. He just swallowed hard, clumsily placing his other hand above her own , his gaze lingering on about anything than the fading bard's misty eyes.

" I know that we haven't been the best of friends… and we certainly didn't see eye to eye on many things, right? "she kept on talking, her voice broken and trembling, her breath more and more labored with every word " but… you take good care of Xena for me, will you….?" she still managed to say before an unbearably sharp pain in her stomach made her curl instantaneously, letting a savage cry leave her throat, as tears began flowing from her wide, olive moons, a fine trickle of blood escaping her lips along with it, the mighty War God literally paralyzing at the horrific sight unfolding before him.

Seconds later, when part of that inhuman affliction scorching her inside out, seemingly melting her every cell of her body decreased in intensity, her gaze rose once again to meet the leather clad Olympian's face and much to her surprise, scanning his crystallized expression she saw yet another type of emotion, one that a few years back she could have swore than she would never get to see embedded on any God's perfectly composed visage: helplessness.

Despite the ravishing agony, she couldn't help smiling, a bitter smile that caught Ares' attention on the double.

He didn't dare ask anything though. He just lifted an eyebrow inquiringly, in that uniquely annoying style of his, waiting for an answer than he knew he was about to receive anyway.

"The expression on your face…..if it weren't for the pain I might just have a good laugh about it…" she replied lowly, forcing herself to stay awake, while feeling her eyelids getting heavier and heavier by the second.

"I only wish I could find this as amusing as you do…."

"Ares…..don't let Xena become the monster that she was…..If you love her, don't do it…" she mumbled while slowly beginning to slide into the deep, endless sleep of the afterlife.

"That's a lot to ask for blondie…" the God retorted pensively, ferociously biting on

his lower lip, considering her statement and adding hesitantly above a whisper "She can shine on the battlefield in ways that you can't even bare to imagine…"

"Please…..She's trying to save what's left of her soul….don't ….Please….." the blond bard murmured, perceptibly weakening the clasp of his hand, unable to sense her fingers anymore.

"She is destined for greatness Gabrielle….."

"Yes she is…and walking on a bloody path filed with corpses, ahead of a lethal army screaming her name is not the greatness she needs Ares….she would never be happy like that…you would be killing her bit by bit…" the bard stated inhaling deeply simultaneously feeling the overwhelming need to close her eyes.

"I…..I'll do my best to make her happy…That's all I can promise right not blondie. That's all I got….." the War God answered squeezing her hand lightly, caressing her face with the other when a powerful wave of convulsions started shaking violently

the already drained body, straining her every muscle to the point of snapping.

"Ga….Gabrielle….?" he yelled, holding her agonizing from as more blood started trickling down her chin, eyes floty with undescribable pain and torment.

"T…..Tell her…I love her" came a last line before her teeth clenched like an iron trap, eyes widening under the horrific dagger like stabs repeatedly slicing her lungs and stomach, forcing her to swallow the rest of her words along with the last sparkle of life.

Breaths away from her, Ares was left literally speechless. Covering his affected face with his palms, as if trying to block the striking image unfolding like a nightmare before him, the God suddenly felt the need to sit down , so he just crumbled down the floor, next to Gabrielle's stiff body, feverishly rubbing his temples in what he knew to be a totally ineffective way to gather his thoughts from the start.

"By the Gods!" he sighed defeatedly, as a chain of hallucinating future images started invading his exhausted mind like a flood, making him desperately wish he had the power to change all that, the sounds of his Princess' imaginary heartbreaking sobs and cries already seizing his every immortal sense. "This can't be happening…."

XXX

Feet above the fallen God and from her now empty, meaningless carcass, Gabrielle 's soul was contemplating the world from a totally different angle. It had been such a terribly long day, and yet, during that very moment it somehow seamed that the notion of time itself was but a faraway , fading memory, pretty much like most of her terrestrial life which was gradually turning into a blurry sequence of images that she perceived like belonging to an entirely different person than herself.

Strangely enough, she felt freer and happier than she had ever been in her life, a childish inner peace enfolding her heart and mind with the most delicate but resistant of veils, nourishing her troubled spirit with a stillness and airiness that she had never imagined possible. This had been the feeling that she had been looking for her entire life….the supreme rapture that the all those admired poets and bards had been talking about before her…..this liquid lack of concern and fear…the Elysian Fields…

But as the sweetest and warmest of smiles caressed her now inhuman lips, suddenly her entire spiritual body started shaking under the colossal force of the memories smashing her incandescent, transparent body to the golden ceiling of the Olympian Hall, instantly infecting her previously serene consciousness with the hysteric impact of countless movie like fragments of conversation and images from that day.

The suffering, the vulnerability, the terror, the despair…they were all back in less than a blink, and with them, an endless cortège of remorse, worries and helplessness, nailing her to that dim reality of a world in which she genuinely felt she didn't belong anymore but which still kept her inescapably trapped, leaving her not even one single exit to access.

In less than a second, before her eyes, an entire array of scattered flashes started assaulting her again, though this time, they seamed to make more sense then the past ones, focusing on the very last minutes preceding her death, haunting her with their violence and urgency. Slowly, very slowly, it all came back to her, like in a dream at first, and than like in the vivid, never-ending presence of a nightmare.

It was almost noon and they had been walking from the first ray of light that day. Xena had been quite moody and she distinctively remembered that she asked her if something was wrong, just to be granted of course with the standard " No" answer, skillfully accompanied by the famous "steely gaze" the Warrior Princess adored throwing here and there, especially when she needed her space and felt the urge of building a fortress like wall between her usually impenetrable mind and the unfortunate company- that had never changed for a few years now.

There was a lot of silence, a lot of inner thinking, some boring, dull moments and, finally….a stream.

"_Oh Xena! Look! A stream! Isn't this great? I was starting to fry like an egg here! It's soooo hot!" _

"_We have no time for this, Gabrielle! We have to get to Mycenae by sundown if we want to get those people rid of that bloody Cyclops and make a good enough plan to force Bellerephon to pull back his army"_

" _Xena…" a frustrated Gabrielle begged "I could really use a bath or I'll be crushing under a tree sometimes soon ….please? 10 minutes max, I promise. You could grab a bite to eat in the meantime….or something"_

"_Fine…but just be quick about it, ok? Or there will be no city to save…" she finished caustically rolling her eyes at the bard's picky needs, in the worse moments she could thick of. _

_About twenty minutes later, a gleaming Gabrielle was drying her hair in the sun, an enviably relaxed expression on her face._

"_Did you fill your water skin?" Xena mildly inquired, somehow infected herself by her companion's calm and tranquility._

"_What from here? The water here tastes awful, Xena! I'd say we wait until we get to a proper stream!" came the firm answer._

"_Ok….but I don't wanna hear you whining in a half an hour or so that you're dying of thirst ok?"the Warrior Princess bit back ironically, totally positive about the entire monologue she was about to hear in no time…_

"_If you haven't noticed I'm not a child Xena! I can control myself!" the jumpy bard replied, obviously irritated by her friend's parental tone._

"_Yeah, yeah! Let's get going already. It's getting late" _

_One hour later, after an extremely invigorating fight with a couple of maggots and their weasel looking leader, the petite bard had been starting licking her lips more and more often, turning her head towards Xena's waterskin with a frequency that was becoming annoying._

"_You're thirsty, aren't you?" the Warrior Princess bluntly said, without bothering to turn her head to read her friend's drained expression._

"_What makes you say that?" the bard quickly dismissed the hypothesis , in the lousiest of attempts to prove to Xena that she was wrong about that one._

"_Nothing much…just your irking, continual squints towards my waterskin…."_

"_That's ridiculous! You're imagining things!" Gabrielle grudgingly denied everything, licking her lips again and clicking her tongue in the process._

"_Would you stop licking your lips already and drink some water?" Xena couldn't help stating, an ear to ear grin on her face, letting the bard know that she was right again, and that she could predict her every move almost effortlessly._

"_Well…if you insist, I guess could wet my lips with a few drops. They chop so easily, you know. I have to keep them hydrated" she added, grabbing her friend's water source and almost chocking while letting it freely slide down her dry throat. "Xena this is the sweetest water I have ever drank in my life! It tastes like…honey or something!"_

_she exclaimed in grateful awe, while emptying at high speed the rest of the content, with an eagerness that matched perfectly a certain horse's own personal impulses._

"_A few drops ha?" Xena retorted chuckling softly. "Well those "sweet "drops should definitely keep them hydrated for weeks….That's at least what Argo would say after such a water feast…" she ended , while silently searching her mind for the location of next spring in their path. _

"_Argo? Are you comparing me to a horse?" Gbrielle mumbled with dissatisfaction, completely indignant at the thought._

"_Oh no Gabrielle….I could never do such thing" the Warrior Princess sarcastically cracked back a line, bemused by what she knew to be a fierce reaction from the edgy bard."Besides…." she started adding, ready to block what it surely was to be a staff towards her face "it was only a few drops after all" she stated, shaking candidly the empty water skin._

_And, as her every senses sharpened to stop what she decoded to be an incoming blow, she suddenly heard a loud groan, one that she instantly recognized to express excruciating pain and horror, just to turn back and see the blond bard fallen to her knees her head bent down, blood dripping from her mouth and a figure to match the atrocious pain ripping through her stomach and belly._

"_Xena…..?"_

"_Gabrielle! What? What's wrong?"_

"_Aaaaaaaaaa!" came the sharp cry breaking free from her lungs, as her hand clenched against the Warrior Princess' arm, tightening her grip so hard that it actually caught her used to brutality friend's attention in less than a sec._

"_By the Gods!" Gabrielle yelled again, curling almost immediately into a small bundle in the middle of the road. "Xena it burns! It's like someone is drilling a hole inside my stomach!" _

_Her blood frozen in fear and her heart skipping more than one beat, Xena gently picked the bard from the dusty wagon trail and carried her into the grass, under the shade of a nearby tree, frantically looking for a valid explanation for the blond's unexpected symptoms , her eyes never leaving the sight of that fine trickle of blood constantly flowing down her chin. _

"_Xena, why am I bleeding? What's wrong with me?" Gabrielle's frightened glare met the panicked Warrior's own puzzled look. _

"_I don't know….I…." came the shocked reply._

"_Sweet Fates! I feel like a fire is melting my guts! Can I have some water please?" _

"_The water…" Xena murmured lowly, as her slightly shaking hands brought the water skin at the level of her nose, sniffing it carefully. "It's probably poison" she said to herself, reluctantly articulating the possibility._

_She didn't recognize the poison though, and thus, if there was an antidote, she definitely couldn't know about it._

"_Posion? But how? When?" Gabrielle inquired incredulously, hardly biting back another cry, finding in her memory not even one single exposed moment in which somebody could have sneaked close enough to their camp to poison the water._

"_The spring….." the Warrior Princess announced, doing her best to control the impulse of yelling in frustration. "That's the only explanation…"_

_As another one of Gabrielle's inhuman howls slashed the air, bringing fresh drops of hot sweat on her boneweary visage, Xena literally sensed the earth shaking underneath her feet as she instantly realized there was no way to help her. She was dying before her eyes and there was nothing she could do…_

"_Well…never mind, I mean we can fix this right? For every poison there is a cure, just like you've always said…We just need to find a cure….Mycenae is not so far away after all….you could just…" and there came a short, thick moment of silence that for both of them seamed as long as a torrid long day in the middle of a deserted battlefield waiting for reinforcements, moment in which, watching closely Xena's glassy eyes, as if entranced by the purest moments of revelation, the fading bard understood it all. _

"_You don't recognize the poison do you?" she whispered, briefly rising her fingers, to wipe the dripping sweat from her forehead…._

_When no answer came, and her friend adverted her gaze, staring guiltily at the ground beneath them, she just added, extending a hand towards Xena's raven , silky hair:_

"_Xena…it's ok. You can't know absolutely everything….At the end of the day we are just humans…."_

"_Humans….."echoed the Warrior Princess' swiftly invigorated tonality as a redeeming idea started chiming like bells inside her head._

"_Aresssssssss! " she shouted without delay, surprising even herself by the distressful note of her voice, unchecked tears falling like rivers by now down her face, and that very moment she couldn't care less if he saw her weak and crying…it didn't seam to matter anymore._

_As she was about the call his name one more time, Ares instantly materialized by her side an expression of obvious concern on his face, having already sensed the affliction in her voice. _

"_What's wrong? Are you ok?" he instantly questioned, paralyzed himself at the sight of her red, inflamed eyes, aware of the fact that an event like that was as rare as the dinosaurs. "Who died?" he went on adding, exhaling abruptly, when at a closer inspection he realized that she was physically ok._

"_Hey! I'm not dead yet!" came Gabrielle's strangled modulation from behind Xena's shivery form in a lousy attempt to straighten her back._

"_She drank some water, I think it was poisoned or something. I don't recognize the poison though" the Warrior Princess rushed to explain handing the War God the almost empty water skin._

"_Oh it's poison all right" came the short, hard to digest reply "And no, you couldn't have known the poison. You have never encountered it. This is Olympian Bane. All of _

_Artemis's springs and waterfalls are infected with it. It's lethal to mortals…..Did you drink this too?" he inquired lowly, hoping to all known and unknown entities to receive a negative answer._

"_No…..only Gabrielle…"_

"_Good…" he articulated above a whisper, taking a longer look this time at the agonizing bard._

"_No it's not good Ares, she's dying…."_

"_Well you'll forgive me if I don't wear mourning, ?" he caustically retorted _

_using what he knew it would be her type of line._

"_Ares…." Xena groaned desperately, ready to jump at his throat._

"_Ok …fine! It was just a lame joke….let it go." The War God stated, instinctively taking one step back from Xena's deadly range of fire._

"_Where can I find the cure?" she imploringly asked, her vision blurred on account of the constant tears flowing from her dark sea moons. _

_Another long awkward silence settled down, before Ares finally closed in the distance between them, and took her into his arms in a tight embrace, guessing what her next reaction would be, offering in advance a support he knew she would need._

"_Sweetie…there is no cure…this poison is made out of the waters of death….."_

"_The Styx?" came the barely audible questions._

_And when the heavy silence seamed to deepen, like an impenetrable layer of ice upon the ground, Ares unmistakably felt his raven beauty's body beginning to shake like a leaf in his arms._

"_No…..there…..there must be a way….Athena….."she automatically started ranting, making surreal efforts to keep her head together._

"_Xenaaaaa? " Gabrielle's racking moans suddenly interrupted her thoughts, as blood started soaking her thighs, with a new, alarmed gesture, indicating to the Warrior Princess the cause of her distress. _

_Her hands covered in blood, she just threw herself in the arms of her helpless friend, and unable to control the stream of tears anymore, she just let them flow freely across her pain stricken face._

"_Xena….I'm scared….What is happening to me?"_

"_Don't…don't be…we'll figure this out…shhhhh! It's ok Gabrille! Just…don't move we have to stop the bleeding somehow…." was the logic response that naturally followed despite the blankness of her gaze, and for a minute there Xena could't help wondering if she had actually articulated the phrase or it was all inside her mind._

_Before she even got the chance to make a move, Ares had already grabbed her wrist though,slowly rising her upwards from her fading companion, and when a very spiky Warrior Princess turned his way, glaring daggers at him, her brain as foggy as a weird November day , he just answered on the mildest tone he was able to, low enough so that his statement couldn't reach Gabrielle's ears._

"_Xe…it's no use sweet. Her internal organs are way too affected by poison….that's why she's so severely bleeding…..there's nothing you can do…" he bluntly threw her the vital piece of information that was actually meant to offer her some kind of human resignation. _

_A flashing slap collided in exchange with his left cheek though, taking him completely by surprise, leaving him totally open mouthed at the force of the impact._

"_Don't you dare say that again….." she barked at him loudly, savagely pushing him away while turning around to find an almost unconscious bard struggling to keep her eyes open. _

"_I'm so cold…" Gabrielle sighed in a thin voice, her dry mouth half open turning each passing second in a portal through which ruby claret was dribbling in larger and larger quantities on her chin and chest._

_In the hastiest of movement Xena pulled out a blanket from the saddlebag and covered the barely breathing bard, delicately wiping the stains of blood from the surface of her skin with a clean cloth. _

"_Ares…please" she begged unassertively, searching for her God's eyes again, hoping to find them unaffected by anger due to her previous reaction. "Can't you heal her or anything…?"she inquired on the verge of snapping again, her voice broken and fading with each fading glimpse of life out of her friend's body…_

"_Don't you think I would have done it by now if I could…? Her wounds are beyond my powers, Xe…she…she's dying….."the God whispered back, placing a comforting hand on his raven beauty's back, gently caressing, hoping that it would help her calm herself a little bit._

"_Ares….how many times haven't you picked my limp body from the battlefield almost drained of blood and life…? Maybe…"_

"_That was different , Princess. Your internal injuries were never this severe…..But Blondie…..Xena…."_

"_How about Athena?...She can heal her…."_

"_That selfish bitch would never heal her even if you were holding the Dagger of Helios at her throat and you know it. She'd just rub it…"he started spitting ,disgusted by the mere thought of being forced to ask his heinous sister for help, when his Chosen's pleading tone made him stop his eloquent speech._

"_Well can't you at least try?…..It's her only chance…Ares please, I'm begging you…she doesn't have much time….."_

_Another look in his love's troubled eyes, and he couldn't resist satisfying her wish. _

_Xena begging him? Hmmm…he couldn't have succeeded in doing this by himself even if he had ripped her to pieces. _

_Plus…despite the tragic of the situation he couldn't stand seeing her broken like that. His proud Warrior , his number one girl, on the point of having a heart attack because of that empty headed harpy-that he himself had started to like and accept lately- who had no idea that she should always smell something before actually tasting it. _

"_Fine I'll do my best…" he said, bending down to pick a half dead Gabrielle from the grass, "…But Princess…don't keep your hopes up…. I honestly doubt that Athena is willing to perform any miracles what so ever, regarding me offering her the moon , the stars or whatever else she pleases. I'll be back as soon as I can, ok?" he ended, ready to vanish. _

"_Ares…." Xena's voice broke out, stopping him dead in his tracks once again. _

"_Thank you….."_

"_Well….don't thank me yet…." he replied keeping his voice even, nervous himself about the outcome of that entire theatre play. _

_And while Xena was still contemplating the place Ares had stood with her dying friend, incapable of ungluing her eyes from the wide tracks of blood that had been springing from the petite bard, the War God was silently praying that the Goddess of the three Ws( Wisdom, Warfare and Weaving) was actually wise enough to let her vicious hatred and envy behind and save the irritating blonde's life._

_Placing the pale, limp body on a nearby couch, the mighty God of War couldn't help thinking again why was he about to suffer the worse humiliation of his life, by literally supplicating that heartless gorgon to save the life of the one that had constantly been the main reason why his Princess had denied him her love, refusing to be by his side again. _

_It would have been so easy to just turn his back on her and let her bleed to death, taking no unnecessary risks any more…But than again that would have broken Xena's heart…and he would have probably missed teasing the bard about her hair color….._

"_Xena…"he whispered seductively, and the extraterrestrial sound of her name instantly provided him with enough reasons and force to summon his "favorite "sister to a one on one meeting that he unconsciously kinda hoped deep down inside his heart to miserably fail after all, allowing the irritating bard to embrace the solemn tranquility of the Elysian Fields ASAP._

"_Athena?" his grave tone echoed throughout the high Olympian Halls._

"_What is it now brother? And don't tell me you're here to whine about that rotten defeat at Patras, cause, just as you once said, "All's fair in love and War"- the love part being still debatable though." The Goddess mockingly quoted, aware of the fact that there was nothing on the planet that the arrogant War God hated more than being patronized like that. _

_Biting back a smart reply that would have surely drilled a nasty hole in her sister's shield of pride, Ares just swallowed silently, looking pointedly nevertheless at her drown sword and thinking how much he would have enjoyed wiping the floor with her, beating her like a dog for the countless time. _

"_No." He simply retorted wasting no time nor words, aware that the bard had but little time left before finally heading beyond any chance of salvation towards his uncle's domain._

"_Well speak up then, I don't have all day" Athena promptly answered, slick and tired by the lack of amusement her brother was about to provide. " Unlike you, I have duties to attend to". _

"_I'm sure you do" Ares concluded, revealing Gabrielle's agonizing form. _

"_Sweet Fates! " came Athena's unnaturally high pitched shriek, followed by a malicious laugh that only made Ares's patience get thinner and thinner. "Well if it isn't the Battling Bard of Potedia….Xena's little friend…Don't tell me you've killed her!" she inquired anxiously. _

"_She's not dead yet" he bit back, bringing his sister's enthusiasm to more acceptable levels._

"_Oh….that's a pitty" she simply replied, contemplating Gabrielle's washed- out face, on which marks of inhuman pain had been left as a testimony of the torments she had endured._

"_And no…it was Artemis's sweet water…."_

"_The Olympian Bane…" she whispered fascinated by the details….."that got to hurt. How about Xena?" she added maliciously, cunningly examining her brother's reaction. _

"_Sorry…." He retorted, a wide ear to ear grin that made Athena sigh, as if having received the biggest let-down news of her immortal existence. _

"_That's too bad…I would have loved seeing your desperate face once again, begging me to heal her…I'm telling you, that particular memory is among the most precious images that my eternal brain has had the occasion to register. Truly marvelous, you have to admit it!" _

"_Yeah. One of a kind" Ares mumbled to himself, feeling his sister's stingy line till the very depths of his agitated heart._

"_So…don't tell me you want me to grant this common mortal the gift of life now, do you, brother?" she skeptically inquired, trying to outguess what she thought would be her impulsive brother's true intentions. _

"_I figured we could cut a deal…." Ares replied standing his ground, but totally insecure about what he was doing there, and Athena sensed the anxiety burdening his godly aura , faster than the speed of life and sound all together._

"_A deal…." She intriguingly considered the option, without dismissing for one second the thought of this being but one of the War God's deviously manipulative plans, to gain something. "And what exactly do you think would hold my attention for more than two seconds on the subject, may I ask?" _

"_Athens…..at peace…for one thousand years" he let the thought flow off his lips, voicing it as convinced and determined as he could, only to hear Athena laughing amused in his face._

"_One thousand years? You must be kidding me Ares! Make it ten thousand and I would still turn my back and walk away" she stated ironically, rising her eyebrows in disbelief as she got ready to dematerialize form the room._

"_Wait!" Ares instinctively tried to hold her back, silently wondering about the futility of his actions. "Sparta…I would give you Sparta in exchange of her life…" his voice resounded clear and solemn again, while vainly trying to dismiss the thought of just how lame and whipped out he must had been looking that very moment. _

_And right out of nowhere, there was a bizarre, graveyard saturnine type of quietness filling the room again, with Athena suddenly realizing that she was holding all her cards, with the God of War asking himself how much was he willing to gamble in exchange of his Nemesis' s life and Xena's happiness. _

"_Hm…tempting…..but no…" his sister finally spoke, drinking the sight of the defeat in his questioning eyes. " It was your precious Chosen that killed Illyanis, dear brother. Or has that detail slipped out of your horny, inferior mind? Do you really think that I would miss the one opportunity to see that worthless whore drowning in grief, and properly avenge my beloved's murder?" she said motioning next to the couch where Ares had laid the petite blonde. "Too bad for Gabrielle though. She was a fine bard…..She could have had a promising career if it weren't for your two faced play thing to intervene in her destiny! Well…I guess that's what people usually like to call "terrible consequences"…"_

"_So that's what's all about Athena? Xena killing your incompetent Chosen?" Ares burst out, ready to smack the Goddess with an energy ball, instantly transfigured by the childish reasons his sister had come up with in order to deny him her divine intervention. _

" _Xena defeated her in a fair fight and you know it!. You agreed to that. Both you and your useless girlfriend. It was a matter of who was the best….." _

"_Yeah….well…call me grudgy" she treacherously chuckled while leaving the room, but not before placing a supernatural, delicate touch the bard's forehead, allowing her to came back to consciousness once again, intentionally prolonging her agonizing_

_suffering for a few more minutes. _

"_Just thought you'd like to deliver some sort of ferwell speech to your favorite bard friend, dear brother , the deafening echo of her voice could still be heard after the Goddess's golden light disappeared from the main Hall._

XXX

As she took a good look to her surroundings, Gabrielle quickly spotted a very restless and overwrought God of War pacing back and forth the room, and she could tell by his constant mumbling that he was searching even the darkest corner of his mind for a solution to fix whatever he thought that needed to be fixed.

And then there was a crush, and a fireball colliding with the opposite wall, and another crash, and then everything went blank, when in all her Olympian glory, the Goddess of Wisom reentered the room, a fresh, new sparkle gleaming in her astute eyes.

"What do you want Athena? " Ares instantly jumped at her, pulling his sword out of his scabbard, ready to unleash all of his anger on her." Came here to gloat? It wasn't the wisest of choices sis'" he added, barely finishing his sentences before striking full Athena's direction, maddened with rage, spite and humiliation.

"Not here to fight. I have a better idea."

That obviously caught Ares' attention…

"I'm listening…"

"Is she dead yet…..?" the Goddess curiously inquired.

"Well it depends on what you understand through dead. Her spirit is no longer inside her body anyway"

"No…but it hasn't left yet…" Athena answered back, closing her eyes and sensing Gabrielle's presence in the room.

Another touch on her forehead, and with a violent convulsion, the bard's reluctant spirit was back in her former agonizing carcass, screaming in pain the moment it took it's rightful place among the living.

"Well, this is a provisory solution of course."

"The price?" Ares questioned, knowing that he would grow to regret it.

"Xena…" came Athena' s striking reply, her mouth twisting in the most evil of grimaces as she uttered her proposal.

"Xena?..." Ares asked, shaking his head in disagreement, pulling his sword back again, and knowing him well, Athena knew that she had less then ten seconds to convince him before the entire Hall would be soaked in blood. Immortal blood this time….

"Always ill tempered…you never really grow up do you brother? Well hear me out will you? …."

And when no comeback line followed, she just kept on talking:

" You give up your little dolly as your Chosen, she becomes my pretty little Warrior Princess, the Battling Bard stays alive and out of your hair - for you will cease any type of contact you now have with Xena for the rest of her earthly existence-…and…there you have it…..Problem solved. Everybody's happy. Except you of course, but then again, who gives a damn, right?" she obnoxiously underlined, her face glowing with the awareness of the new possibilities this new exchange could provide.

"You want me to give up on my Chosen…? That's a sacred bond Athena, unable to be broken by Gods or mortals alike since the moment she swore allegiance to me." the

War god ferociously protested, knowing that there was in fact one way…

" Don't really feel like toying around brother…..so don't play stupid cause most of the time it doesn't suite you. As you very well know it, if you give her up in front of the Fates wiping out every single memory she had shared with you, removing the symbols of your power from her, aka. Chackram, sword or whatever else you might have given her, the bond will be broken, and she could have a new owner again. Me."

"Owner? She's not an object Athena! " the God snorted , fire in his eyes.

"Cut the morality lecture Ares. It's not like you haven't treated her like that since the day she pledged her allegiance to you. Don't worry, she's used to it. And if she's not, she will soon be. But, we digress…. we would actually have to leave that to her to decide shouldn't we? So…any time you're ready….Gabrielle's body won't be able to withstand the pain any longer though." the Goddess finally concluded, an expression of incontestable victory on her visage.

Closing progressively his tired eyes and shutting down every contact with reality what so ever, the War God drowned for what seamed to be a lifetime, in the blackness of his mangled heart, hiding his still present sanity in the deepest and furthest corner of his ocean of isolation, during one last attempt to let all off this crazy story pass by, gathering up the courage to send himself the bard's soul flying into the afterlife- Elisyan Fields or Amazon Land or whatever else there was for her- just to find out that he couldn't do it.

Not with the risk of loosing his Princess forever….despite the fact that it looked like he was about to loose her either way…..he…he just loved her to much…he couldn't stand seeing the tears in her eyes.

Maybe, just maybe, this was for the best after all…it was her chance to a new, fresh start, a new beginning, without him bugging her with his nonsense all the time.

He had wronged her terribly in the past, and she has wronged him…they had hurt each other on countless occasions, causing so many severe wounds and such ugly scars on what it used to be the polished surface of their soul that he couldn't bear to remember.

Maybe…..this wasn't such a terrible thing after all…there were other women… plenty of fish in the sea, like Zeus liked to call them….he could as well pick another Chosen…..And that's when the stream of his messed up thoughts broke into pieces, shattering faster than dead leaves in the wind….he was stupidly lying to himself, in a vain attempt to numb that slashing pain he was currently perceiving as being beastly claws , savagely ripping full chucks of his heart…and as much as it hurt to admit it, he knew it: she was his life…he couldn't go on living without her. He could put on a convincing show for her, making her believe that it wasn't such a big deal and that everything would work out for the best for all of them, hell, the bard would probably be having an orgasm at the news of having him out of her hair, finally….

"Just don't start getting all emotional on my, brother. You'd brake my heart" his sister's mocking tone brought him back to the dim reality, only to open his eyes to see it accompanied by a theatrical pout to mach the overall image of the heartless immortal he had for a sister

"Let's go" he simply said, pretending total indifference to Athena's caustic line.

XXX

Moments later, the two Olympians and a struggling to live bard were back at square one, with a worried to death Xena literally chocking Gabrielle with her firm embrace.

"She's not out of the woods yet Xena…But she can be if you choose it so…." Athena began talking, keeping an eye on his dear old brother's tensed composure and the other one on the Warrior' Princess's attentive glare.

"What do you want?" came Xena's unavoidable inquiry, as she rose back to her feet, at but a few breaths from the one Goddess besides Callisto and Discord that would have happily chop her to pieces if she had the chance.

"We'll I guess I'll have Ares fill you in with the details, since I hate rambling on the same subject on and on again"

Quizzically, the Warrior Princess searched for her patron God's always in control amber eyes, and she was totally stunned to see them troubled and afflicted, as they hadn't been in a long time, and despite his veiled gaze, beyond the thick shield of indifference and obscurity, she could easily read traces of a fine watery layer of tears, skillfully averted from flowing down his perfectly sculpted cheeks.

"Well? " she asked, closing in the distance between them , only to see Ares taking two steps back away from her, his head slightly bent towards the ground. "Ares?"

"In order to save Gabrielle , Athena wants to claim you as her Chosen," he finally broke out, almost choking on the last part.

"What? That's impossible!"

"Nothing is impossible, Xena, there's always a away. Isn't that what Ares has thought you all of these years?" Athena disrupted, her, joining in their little chit chat.

"If I give you up in front of the Fates, and erase your every memory of me…of…us than you can become another God's Chosen since for that point on you will be…dead for me." he ended lowly, hardly uttering the phrase.

"Don't forget about the Chackram , Ares" the Goddess of Wisdom pushed, finding this harassing activity surprisingly entertaining." And all the other objects that you have given her across the years and still hold a meaning….not that besides a rotten sword and that barbaric round killing thing you have been so generous as to present her something more appealing. She doesn't seam the type anyway….."

Completely drained out, and not feeling like arguing with his crazed sister, despondently waiting for a final curtain to fall upon what his life with his Princess had been, Ares just nodded in agreement once Xena's lazuline moons focused on his strained figure for confirmation.

"So…what do you say Xena? Whatever it is though, as I strongly advised my dear brother just minutes before, be quick about it…..Gabrielle is fading away with every breath…." Athena uttered impatiently, her fingers slowly tracing the top of her sword , letting Xena silently know that if by any chance her answer would be negative, she would be kind enough to spare her the misery and finish the young bard herself.

"How about Ares?" Xena asked, on a slightly shaking tone.

"What about him?" the Goddess retorted, knowing very well where the Warrior Princess was coming from. "Are you asking if two will ever accidentally "bump" into each other again, each time you get the chance and under any ridiculous pretext?"

There was a brief pause in which no one spoke, so she just gave her an answer.

"No…..and you won't feel the need to anymore, since you won't remember one single thing about him. The moment he gives you up in front of the Fates, and you pledge allegiance to me, his despicable rat like face will be removed from your memory along with every single word he had ever addressed you. In return, you'll be bound to obey me, to follow my direct orders, to serve me every cause body and soul. Any more questions?"

"Ares?" the name left Xena's lips like an old ancient song, that almost smashed Ares' s will and still left strength.

"Yeah….?"he promptly answered, genuinely feeling that anything that beat one syllable words would have melodramatically stuck inside his throat.

"Are you….ok with this?"

"Sure, Princess, just….do what you have to do" the God's hardly articulated phrase came out, on such a broken note that made Xena's blood rush inside her veins faster than flood, desperately wishing she could find an escape route from all this, and just have things the way they were.

"This is hilarious brother! It really is. I don't necessarily mean to rub it in your face but…..giving up the only thing you seamed to care in eons of existence, sacrificing your own lust , passion or whatever it is you feel for this whoe, for her happiness…..that's….pretty cheesy…."

"_You ignorant, cold hearted Medusa !" _she couldn't help swearing inside her mind, but her thoughts were so aloud that they reached Ares's own mind instantaneously, and despite the bleakness of the situation he couldn't help cracking a sad, bitter smile.

Reaching out for his hands, and clasping them between her own, it didn't take more than a second to see that they were as cold as marble, his regularly hot palms, now covered in icy drops of sweat, and as much as she tried to ignore it, all this didn't actually felt right.

Delicately caressing the surface of his hand, and taking one last glance at her fallen friend, Xena parted her lips to say something when the War God silenced her lightly with a gentle kiss, one that unlike most of his countless previous ones didn't held neither lust nor barely controlled passion, but pure love and ultimate heartache….

He wanted to tell her how much he loved her, he needed to get that heavy burden off his chest for one last time, to scream it in her face until it stopped hurting, to ask her to forgive him that he hadn't manage to keep his most sacred vow to her: that he would never leave her no matter what…..

She needed to confess to him how much his constant presence had meant for her during all those years when nobody had been there by her side except him, needed to let him know that despite the games, the cat and the mouse, the will I/ won't I, her soul had always belonged to him. Always…..

They didn't say a thing though. They just stood there, silently reading the lost words in each other's eyes…as for the last time…

"Would you two cut the dramatics already or you'll have to try to convince Hades about this entire romantic charade, in the pits of Tartarus?" Athena broke out, obviously annoyed about that rare display of affection between those two. " Holly Olympus! One day you're at each other's throats, the other you're fucking like rabbits and sharing love poems!" she exclaimed scandalized, clueless about the deep emotional connection between the War God and his amazing Warrior Princess.

" Call the Fates"the Warrior Princess finally announced , turning her back on Ares, and heading Athena's way. " Let's put this show on the road before Gabrielle leaves this realm for good.! "

"Very well then " was the standard answer that Xena had expected to get.

"Oh Sacred Fates, all-knowing maidens older than time, I Athena, Goddess of Wisdom, Warfare and Weaving"

"And me Ares God of War"

"And me Xena of Amphipolis, Chosen of Ares, God of War"

"We call upon you to grant us with your presence!"

A powerful gust of wind formed a circle around the three solicitants, and the

summoned entities appeared by their side, in chronological order of their apparently different age" Atropos , Lachesis and Clotho, an out of this world passivity displayed on their faces.

"Our presence "

"has been requested "

"by two Olympians"

" and one Chosen" , they started rambling in their unique, disruptive style, that had always made Xena wonder why in Zeus's name couldn't they just form regular, fully articulated pattern like sentences.

"What"

"is it"

"you wish?" they inquired , never- ceasing to spin and measure the thread of life they were working on, Atropos's eyes refusing to part with it, since she was the one that needed to cut it in due time, not a minute earlier or later.

"We want you to brake a bond" Athena's voice echoed throughout the air, her proud attitude and that wide grin making Ares gnash his teeth with spite, the remorse of a poorly done job still grating his consciousness.

"And what bond"

"would that be"

"Goddess of Wisdom?"

"The one between my brother and his Chosen". she replied , pointing towards those two.

"A bond between a God and his Chosen"

"is sacred and cannot be broken"

"by mortals or immortals alike"

"Unless…." Athena pressed them to continue.

"Unless a patron God, freely gives up on his Chosen"

"and that particular Chosen is offered body and soul to another God"

"breaking all connections with her former patron. All three parties must consent" the three Fates specified, getting ready to perform the sacred ritual through which a new order was to be brought on things.

"Do you freely give up on your Chosen, God of War?" Atropos questioned, the most impassible expression on her face, ever.

Hardly bringing himself to speak, Ares replied hoarsely :

"I…..do"

It was Clotho's turn to take the stage.

"Do you Athena, Goddess of Wisdom take this Chosen to be yours to protect her and to arm her in knowledge, strength and weapons, to ever be on her guard as long as she lives?"

"I sure…do….." she lazily answered, her steely eyes meeting Xena's alarmingly sad ones.

And then, there was Lachesis :

"Warrior Princess, step forward and kneel before your new patron Goddess and pledge your allegiance to her.

It only took a couple of seconds and Xena was down on her knees, before the one that was about to use all of her knowledge and power not to teach her new, invaluable things like her former teacher had, but to lead her to her death at the first vociferated protest of her recalcitrant lack of submission.

" Do you Xena of Amphipolis, accept what your new patron Goddess is offering you and do you swear to fight in her name, to obey her every command, to faithfully serve her with the price of your life?" came the slashing interrogation, and it's safe to say that during that very moment, the War God felt for the first time in his life that he was about to explode in a million pieces and he was genuinely about to pull out his sword and do his worse like he hadn't done it since the beginning of time when he was forced to set order into the world through ultimate force and brutality, storming both darkness and light all by himself at the command of Zeus, his father, when he heard Xena's clear voice articulating the words, and he suddenly felt the need to lean against something, his vision being so blurry with anger that he hardly realized what was actually going on but steps away from him.

"I do swear….that if you don't heal Gabrielle and vow, in front of the Fates on the river Styx to never mention this to anyone else and drop every single thought that might cross your pretty little head of yours in taking your revenge for this afterwards, I will gut your mortal carcass like a fish with your own sword and proclaim myself Goddess of Wisdom in your place, Athena. So choose wisely…" she menacingly threatened , a now very much mortal ex Goddess laying on the soft grass, her windpipe blocked atrociously by Xena's foot, her own magic blade pressing hard against her chest.

"What are you doing Xena? Disarming a God of his sacred weapons is punished by death!" she tried to yell in utter disbelief, just to find out that she couldn't, the pressure skillfully applied by the expert Warrior Princess , barely leaving her room to inhale.

"Cut the crap and say it Athena!" the Warrior Princess yelled, crushing her windpipe even harder as blood began to show from where the pointy sword had been needling.

"I swear it! " she finally barked when she was given enough space to talk. "I swear to heal Gabrielle , restrain any thought I might have on revenge and to never mention this to anyone again", and all this accompanied with such a diabolic glare in her eyes, that if it hadn't been for the Fates being present to witness her vow, he Warrior Princess would have killed her on sight, no second thoughts, granting Ares with the power of healing and leaving him to solve things his way.

"We, the three masters of life, death and destiny"

"Atropos, Clotho and Lachesis"

" we, witness the vow of Athens, Goddess of wisdom, daughter of Zeus the Olympian"

"Sweet Gaia! Do you ever think about my sanity Xena? I was about to have a heart attack here!" Ares 's clamorous but definitely welcomed vociferation thundered, his eyes shining again with life and self conceitedness, exhaling repeatedly as if he had been about to witness and roughly experience the mythical Twilight itself in all it's unstoppable, incoming glory.

"Do you still wish for us to perform"

"the ceremony of your"

" initial request?" the three sacred maiden asked the participants.

"That won't be necessary" came Xena's slightly bemused response, almost simultaneously with the War God's horrified shriek.

"Hell no!"

"Very well than. Consequently,Xena will remain"

" under the patronage of the God of War"

"as his Chosen" they finally ended their irritating trilogy, magically vanishing from the scenery.

"Oh joy!" Xena's mumbled line could be heard, while closely examining Ares's ready to pop out his head with joy eyes, silently cursing herself for not allowing the whole ritual thing progress a little bit longer before finally putting an end to it.

"_It would have made such an interesting show_" she thought.

XXX

The sun was getting ready to set when Gabrielle took Argo to a nearby river, questionably offering to wash and brush it, giving Xena and Ares a little room to talk things over, and mostly, using those precious minutes into undisturbedly meditating upon the sharp, so easily to cross border between life and death.

"Dying can be so underrated at times" she whispered against the horse' s long, fine, ear, while caressing lightly his fringy, creamy crest. "It's not as scary as one might believe, you know? There is a certain peace and beauty in stillness that you won't find anywhere else" she went on taking, vainly waiting for Argo to at least nod in agreement.

"What people should really worry about is the way they die…that's the frightening part I guess…..the excruciating pain that might precede the end of each one's journey. But at the end of the day it's worth it all….the pain, the torment, all those emotions…..Why am I even telling you this? I mean, you're just a horse right? How could you ever understand anything as philosophical and deep as the ever debatable subjects like life and death…" the bard added, finding herself the one on one conversation with the absent minded animal more than funny.

"One last thing…why do you think that Ares was ready to give Xena up for me, huh? Can you believe it? The God of War , ready to drop everything he held dearly for someone like me…..I'd personally say that he must love her very much…How could ever believe it, Argo? The Lord of the Battles, Master of Destructions, Lover of Warfare or whoever else he calls himself…in love? This is clearly a story that needs to be told. I even know how to start it! " Gabrielle went on adding to the poor's animal impossibly to articulate despair.

"What do you think they're talking about this very now? …."

XXX

"Xena….honestly…..weren't you at lest tempted to take on Athena's proposal? I mean…had it been true and well meant? It could have been a good chance to kick me out of your life…for good, you know….…" Ares broke the silence first, avoiding his Princess' piercing glare, by craftily adverting his own gaze before she had actually had the chance to capture it.

"What ? And miss all the fun and drama of having you pop up in the middle of the night in my bedroll and wake me up just to tell me that you had another fight with Zeus or to simply let me know that Gabrielle was snoring so loud that you could hear her from Olympus?...I don't think so….." the raven beauty replied on the most humorous of tones rolling her eyes, unsure if the War God was in the mood to take things further and change the tune into a more serious and definitely more reflective one.

"Ares?" she hesitantly inquired, the slightly trembling timber of her voice getting his immediate attention, without even realizing that besides her broken modulation, the God had senses her rapid change in breath and her quickening pulse too.

And when his quizzical expression finally let her know that he was waiting for her question ,and as her own head bowed towards the ground, unsure if it was wise to bring that hard to cope with subject up that very moment, or just save it for later, Ares gently cupped her chin with one hand, silencing her by delicately brushing her lips with the tip of his fingers, softly caressing them with such an adoration that made Xena wonder if that was actually normal.

…Ares had always had the crazed tendency of worshiping her, but the way he had always used to look at her, so intense , so mesmerized by her every move, literally transfixed by what in his eyes she knew it could be indubitably translated through pompous words like "astonishing charm and refinement" as if he were witnessing

before his eyes not the plain actions of a mere mortal but the ultimate rebirth of the

Goddess of Beauty herself…..now that….. that was be quite scary sometimes.

"I love you…." he started murmuring " like I have never loved anyone in my life, like I have never believed I would be capable of loving someone…..I know that most of the time, my actions don't really scream this phrase out loud, but by now, you should know it's true…I knew how unhappy you'd be without her…Her absence would have drilled in your heart a hole as big as the Gates of Tartarus….Don't get me wrong here, I still want her gone and all, and I would still move heaven and earth to have you by my side again, nothing has changed in this respect….but I …I just hate to see you sad like that. …."

And when his impressively extensive and open hearted speech ended, his alluring Warrior Princess's lips affectionately kissed the tip of the fingers still resting upon them, bringing slowly her velvety hand upwards just to remove his own from her mouth, and, placing it seductively in return on her slim, elegant waist, while languidly intertwining her fingers in his ebony like hair, she started grazing tactfully the back of his neck, the tenderness of her touch making him wanna close his eyes for a second.

Totally disconnected from reality, his mind shut down to anything else except her touch, and when suddenly an uncontrollable moan escaped his lips, he instantly opened them back to see her reaction, just to drop his every intention to ever open them again, the moment he was struck by the unique sensation of her yielding, aromatic tongue tracing the inside contour of his mouth, her breasts pressing hard against his chest, definitely arousing in their turn inside his mind and body every single desire humanly or godly imaginable.

His heart, his soul, his flesh were burning with desire and there wasn't a cell left in his immortal body that failed to respond tenfold to her every stroke, the wetness of her tongue and the quench of her hot kisses unwillingly making his own gestures more and more hasty, more and more aggressive, and it literally took all his supernatural strength and will to stop whatever in Zeus's name he was doing, when, without even realizing it, he crushed her back against the solid log he had been leaning on just minutes before, with such force that he feared that he might had crushed her lungs.

"Ouch" she entrancingly stated, a broad smile on her sexy coral lips, as a faint but incontestable shade of perversity and stimulation clouded immediately her deep cerulean moons .

And when the impossible to resist inflections of her voice started forming those low, maddening moans in the back of her throat that he loved so much , combined with the totally surreal pronunciation of his name …well it's safe to say that the only thing the God of War still remembered about anything on the planet was the overwhelming need to feel her naked body beneath him, inhaling her every breath, and licking every inch of her creamy skin in the process.

"By the Gods, Princessss" he frenziedly groaned as her amazingly articulated fingers started their mild descended from the upper side of his chest till below his belt, and for an instant there, he couldn't help thinking that he could have easily come then and there, with her only touching him like that, her sharp teeth biting on his lower lip as they were doing that very moment, her long , dark, silky tresses strategically wounded around his fist to give him full access to her neck and bare shoulders, the fire in her eyes consuming him even faster than the sweet, poisonous pleasure of thrusting deep inside her, feeling her inner muscles clenching strongly around his unbearably hard cock.

And beyond any shadow of a doubt, during his next move he would have made that restrictive amour vanish with one single thought from her alluring curves, when right out of the blue, a sharp, merry voice, belonging to a certain brain screwing blondie, echoed from the other side of the road, bringing them both to reality.

"Xenaaaaaa! You'll never guess what I've found!"

"You know, if I think real hard, I might just be able to come up with a way to rewind somehow today's events…." he pensively uttered to the overly bemused Warrior Princess, while glaring daggers the irritating Blondie's direction, and the look on his face must have been truly priceless if it succeeded making the usually stoic Warrior Princess burst into such a warm and candid laughter that it even made his own lips reshape in the form of an ear to ear grin.

"No need to think too hard" she murmured, teasingly nibbling his ear " We just have to call Athena back. I'm sure that she'd be more than happy to give us a hand. "

"Just like that, huh?" the War God questioned, returning her the favor by lasciviously fondling her thigh.

"Yeah….." came the brief, almost voiceless response as Ares' fingertips began casting a warm , red glow on the surface of her satiny skin. "Hey! That's cheating!" she mildly protested when a particular wave of heat rose towards her belly, making her wish for more, provoking her beyond measure to loose any trace of control.

"You like cheating…." Ares' s response followed and the look he gave her let her know that if that were to continue he would devour her on the spot, bard or no bard present to witness it all. "How about I whisk us out of here?" he temptingly proposed.

Suggestively rising an eyebrow, Xena clearly let him know that she wasn't quite opposed

to the idea, and she was just about to kiss him again and loose herself in the sanctuary of his embrace when Gabrielle's voice broke the silence again:

"Hey Xena! 'You there?"

"I'm here all right" she answered, silently cursing her friend's bad timing.

"I guess I'll see you later" she stated with a sigh, kissing the God's palm, cunningly erasing the utter disappointment from his stunningly perfect features.

"Do you have a certain place in mind? " he inquired seductively, passing a hand through her hair.

"Surprise me…." She simply answered, while taking two steps back from him, as if aware that it only took one more kiss, one more eliciting glance from his behaf and Gabrielle would be dinning alone that night.

"I always do…..Princess" he chuckled softly as he dissolved in a sparkle a blue light.

"Hey Xena! Whatcha doin'? " Gabrielle questionned, extending an arm around her friend's purple shoulders, her eyes widening at the sight of the dark blemishes.

"Sweet Gaia, Xena! Just look at what Athena has done to you!" she exclaimed closely examining the marks, failing to notice the Warrior Princess' catlike smile , while realizing herself just how strongly Ares had gripped her shoulders but moments before, during their short, incentive performance that still had to wait for it's ending another two or three hours though.

"We have to put some poultice on them. Does it hurt?" the bard inquired again , touching the still burning surface of Xena's skin.

"No, I'm ok Gabrielle, don't worry about it" the Warrior Princess answered , gently caressing her worried friend's hand.

"Uh…where's Ares?"

"Oh…you've just missed him. He took off minutes ago. Some wars up in the North…" she mumbled hesitantly, hating to have to lie to Gabrielle.

"Ok. Well come on, I made some rabbit stew…you'll love it"

"That sounds great, but I'll only have a bite. Seeing Athena half of the day definitely made me loose my appetite" Xena replied laughing.

"Oh, trust me Warrior Princess, you'll change your mind after the first drain"

And as they both headed towards the woods where Gabrielle's rabbit stew was encouragingly waiting, Xena left another adorable smile escape her lips as in the back of her head she heard the God of War's soft voice.

"_Do you prefer red or white wine, Princess?"_

"_The usual, thanks….."she replied using their bond._

"_Just call when you're ready…."_

"I saw that smile , Xena" Gabrielle announced, extremely proud that she had captured her friend's moony expression. "You were thinking about Ares, weren't you?" she continued on a patronizing tone.

"I was not!"the ferocious protest followed, sounding far from convincing though.

"You were too. " a grinning Gabrielle contradicted her again. " Don't lie to me Xena. I know when you're lying. "

"I was not lying Gabrielle!"

"Yes you were…..He kissed you didn't he? That's why you're so out of this world right now? the bard fairly assumed, knowing that she had hit a home run when Xena blushed slightly.

"That's ridiculous! That's so not what happened, And let's start eating already, I'm starving. What did you put in that stew?" the Warrior Princess began blabbering while vainly trying to advert the blond bard's attention from the subject.

"I thought you said you weren't hungry…..are you trying to change the subject Xena? Cause if you are, well…..that means I'm right. You and Ares did kiss, after all…."

"We didn't kiss…well…..he just brushed my lips….that doesn't count, does it?….So….can we eat now?"

"I knew it!" Gabrielle shrieked in excitement, not necessarily by the idea of her friend making out with the God of War as for her ability to dechipher Xena's reactions. "So…is he a good kisser? Was it a passionate kiss or a romantic type of kiss after all? How did you react? Did you slap him as you usually do or not?" came the logical cortege of curious questions.

"_Boy, this gonna be suuuuch a long evening!..."_ Xena said to herself, but smiled again despite herself seeing her overly talkative friend very much alive and well, doing what she loved most : killing herself talking.

"I can't believe it!" came another one of the bard's exclamations.

"What?" a very jumpy Warrior Princess asked, despite the fact that she was pretty much aware of the fact that, very soon, she would be sorry for asking

"There it was again! The dreamy smile thing! You can't deny it now, Xena! I saw it, ok?"

"Yeah, yeah! You just said that. I've heard you already!"

"I was not refearing to the previous smile, Xena! This was another smile."

" What smile? Gabrielle, I'm telling you, you're hallucinating. It's probably because of the poison"

"Hallucinating? Well I sure wasn't hallucinating before…"

"Before?"

"When I saw your other smile!"

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"Oh…..no! You're not doing this. You've already admitted that you kisses Ares!"

"I said no such thing!"

And when Gabrielle suddenly stopped to think things over, wondering whether the Warrior Princess could have been in fact right and there could still be some leftover poison in her body, making her see things, Xena couldn't help it anymore, and she just burst into laughter.

"Very funny Warrior Princess! That was very funny! " the bard simply snorted, refilling her plate "But I could bet my staff that you'll be inviting me to your wedding soon"

"There's definitely some poison left in your nervous system bard! Now shut up and finish your meal!

"_She's so in love….I mean could she make it more obvious?" _Gabrielle thought grinning widely _"Congratulations Aphrodite…this was a good plan after all….It was worth the risk…"_


End file.
